Letter: Retirees have sacrified enough on PERS benefits

Recent letters to the editor have indicated that retired public employees are willing to sacrifice their retirement for the good of the cause, that they entered public service to help others and this is the least they could do ("PERS reform," Jan. 18; "PERS benefits," Jan. 16).

Don't include me in this mindset. In 2003, major changes were made to PERS . People I worked with at the time (same position and same years worked) received approximately $2,000 a month more at retirement than when I recently retired. That is my sacrifice.

Gov. John Kitzhaber has proposed limiting cost-of-living raises to the first $2,000 a month, supposedly reducing the employer contribution rate by about $800 million. In any case, the reforms of 10 years ago were supposed to be the savior of PERS. Now there are more proposals to reduce retirement benefits.

If you think that limiting the cost of raises will be the last change, think again. In two years there will be more cost-cutting proposals and more blaming. And I assume some of you will be more than willing to give in even more. No one said that, as a retiree, you can't voluntarily give back some of your retirement to the system if you feel that you are overcompensated.